Pilates, Nutritarian Recipes and Natural Living by Heidi Marten

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Just like its cousin, this is a quick to prepare soup that tastes decadent and fuels your body with cancer fighting cruciferous vegetables. Unlike its cousin, this soup has a distinct thai flavor and heat. Yum! One can of (BPA free!) beans such as garbanzo or cannellini, or quinoa, would be a nice addition if you would like to add some texture and more staying power to this soup, but we enjoyed it as it is written.

In a large soup pot over medium heat, water sauté the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and carrots, sauté about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, red curry paste, curry powder, and red pepper. Saute one more minute. Add the water, broth and coconut milk. Raise heat and bring to a boil. Add broccoli, lower heat, cover and simmer until broccoli is bright green and soft. Blend until smooth in batches. Add freshly ground pepper to taste.

I love the richness, the creaminess, the texture, everything about this soup. It’s just beautiful in every way!

Serves 4 as a meal (about 2 large bowls each)

Ingredients:

2 onions, diced

2 celery stalks, chopped

5 oz carrots, chopped

1 parsnip, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 lbs broccoli florets

6 cups broth

6 cups water

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp each oregano and dill

black pepper, to taste

1 1/2 cups cashews blended with 1 cup water until smooth cream is formed

Method:

In a large soup pot over medium heat, water sautee the onion until translucent. Add celery, parsnip, carrots and garlic, sautee about 5 minutes. Add the broth and water, raise heat and bring to a boil. Add broccoli, red pepper, oregano and dill. Cover and simmer until broccoli is bright green and soft (just a few minutes!). Blend, in batches, until smooth. Stir in cashew cream and black pepper to taste.

I love this cabbage salad and make it on an almost weekly basis. Sometimes I add cucumber (scrape the seeds first so it won’t make the salad too watery) or extra peppers or just do a green and red cabbage and skip the napa. A bit of basil mixed into the salad changes the flavor a bit, too, if you are in the mood.

I add a lot of tofu to this salad. My son eats more than his fair share and my husband and I love it too, so we are always fighting over who gets the last piece!

The peanut dressing is a favorite of my son, he loves for me to add it to his lunchbox with a bunch of veggies for him to dip in it.

Enjoy!

Salad:

5 oz daikon radish, julienned

10 oz carrots, julienned

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1 1/2 lbs shredded napa cabbage

1 lb shredded green cabbage

1 1/2 lbs shredded red cabbage

8 green onions, chopped

1-2 bunches cilantro, chopped (depending on how much you love it)

Toss ingredients together in bowl. Add tofu and dressing. Garnish with unhulled sesame seeds or peanuts if desired.

Peanut Dressing:

1 1/4 cup peanut butter

3/4 c water

5 dates

2 Tbs reduced sodium tamari

2 Tbs minced ginger

4 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Blend ingredients until smooth.

Marinated, baked tofu

3 14oz containers of extra firm water packed (non-GMO) tofu

1/2 cup reduced sodium tamari

1/2 cup water

1.5 Tbs minced garlic

1.5 Tbs minced ginger

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, optional, for added heat

Drain and press tofu by placing it on a cutting board with paper towels underneath and on top. Weight the tofu with another cutting board or baking pan and a couple cans or jars. Press for 30 minutes.

Slice each block of tofu into four pieces and place back in packaging.

Marinate for 6 hours or overnight. Flip tofu if desired so color from marinade is even throughout (this is not necessary, though).

Drain tofu and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400° F for 25 minutes. Cut into smaller squares and mix it into the salad while it is still warm (it is also good cold, but I love it warm in the salad).

I’m not sure what it is lately, but chocolate is on my mind daily. I think my baby must be sending signals to my body telling it to “eat more chocolate! eat more chocolate!”. Yes, that is definitely what is happening.

Anyhow, a truly good brownie recipe—conventional or not—is hard to come by. Well, I found it.

This is a take from my truffle recipes. Way quicker to make, so you better believe I’ve been making a lot of this! These definitely taste best refrigerated, just like my truffles.

I use a small part almonds for the creaminess and sweetness they add (more like flour) and then the walnuts for the strong flavor. You can play with the nut ratios as you please to create your own favorite mix. I’m sure that a small part hazelnuts mixed with almonds would create a wonderful combination. Shoot, I’ll have to try that out now!

Ingredients:

Using your food processor, pulse almonds until coarsely chopped. Add walnuts and pulse again until flour-like. Add cocoa powder, vanilla and dates to the processor and process until smooth and dough ball forms.

Press into a brownie pan and refrigerate at least 15 minutes before cutting and serving. Store in refrigerator for a few days.

Always on the quest for great (and healthy!) desserts, I created this muffin recipe. No added sugar, no added oils/fats, no salt, no junk. Just pure food, as it should be. This recipe passes the toddler test as my little guy devoured 3 of these within an hour of them coming out of the oven.

The chocolate is completely optional and very untraditional. I really like chocolate, though, so I could not resist! Note that I used unsweetened chocolate—it’s not sweet and will make the muffin a bit less sweet—so keep that in mind if you use it! It is delicious, though!

Below is a picture prior to baking. As you can see, I formed these with the back of a spoon because they will come out the same shape that you put them in the oven. These bake very differently than traditional muffins.

Ingredients

16 Medjool dates, pitted

2 ripe bananas

1/2 c water

1 T vanilla

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 c chia seeds

1/2 c oat flour

1 c almond flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 c sliced almonds

2 oz finely chopped unsweetened baking chocolate (optional)

Place dates through chia seeds in high powered blender/vita mix or in food processor and process until smooth.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and pour wet ingredients in Mix to combine. Spoon into 8 silicone muffin cups and smooth tops (these look the same when they come out as they go in, very different from traditional muffins).

Bake at 325*F for about 35 minutes. If your muffins seem too wet on the inside, bake longer for next time and make sure you write down your time as every oven is different! Mine take exactly 35 minutes to be the perfect muffin.

I love my homemade hummus. I really dislike the taste of storebought and hummus is so quick and easy to make (unfortunately, quicker to eat!). In true Nutritarian form, I add no oil to my hummus; instead, I add water. The result is a lighter, airier and tastier hummus—really! I do add some sea salt, though. I love fresh herbs in hummus and always add in a few handfuls!

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked garbanzo beans (if using canned, this is 2 cans worth)

2.5 T lemon juice

1 T tahini

3 cloves garlic

water (start with 1/3 c and see how the consistency is)

optional: salt, paprika

1 cup loosely packed parsley or cilantro with soft stems

Method:

Add ingredients, except herbs, to food processor and process until smooth. Add more water as necessary to achieve desired consistency. Add herbs and pulse until chopped. Enjoy!

I’m a huge believer that you show people you love them through food. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? So many people have the wrong idea of showing love through food. Making fatty food, serving icecream and cookies, these are NOT ways to show love. In fact, these are foods you should feed your enemies, as you are slowly killing the people you are feeding these foods to. So how do you show your family that you love them? By spending time in the kitchen cooking up a heartwarming bowl of soup.

Show your family that you love them by making them this healthy, cleansing soup. This is one of my toddler’s very favorite dishes of all time! In fact, he is eating it right now, and he asked me to “please make it every morning and every night”. I’d say that is success, right? This is a play off of a Polish beet soup that is usually made in the summer (due to the use of beet tops).

This edamame puree is amazing, so much better than any hummus recipe that I’ve tried! I love the delicate flavor. I tried a version of it earlier today at a restaurant. I was so enamored, I had to come home and make it right away! This is my version and I think it tastes just like the original! At the restaurant, this puree was served with deep fried wonton chips. Yum! But if you are looking for a healthier meal, you can do as I did at home: serve with cut up veggies (carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, whatever you like). I also really like dipping edamame pods before I scrape the beans out.

Method:

I’m giving the directions for using a food processor below. However, if you are lucky enough to own a food mill (I’ll be buying one as soon as we are in our new house!) use it instead, as you will get a super creamy and light consistency, just like the restaurant served.

If using a food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth. Add water as necessary to create a smooth paste of the consistency you want. I used 6Tbls water for mine.

Although it is good served warm or cold, try it while it is still warm, it is my favorite way to enjoy this puree! Enjoy!

Tofu is comfort food in this house. I love well marinated tofu that is full of flavor. This recipe went really well at our house. I served it over stir-fried vegetables (cooked in the same sauce) and a blend of wild and sweet brown rice. This tofu would also taste great grilled, instead of fried, and served with peanut dipping sauce.

Ingredients:

2 containers extra firm water packed tofu

1/2 can lite coconut milk

6 cloves garlic

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp dried lemongrass

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp red curry paste

3 T tamari

1/2 tsp curry powder

juice of 1/2 lime

1/4 c super tightly packed cilantro (measure while you are pressing it down)

1/3 c super tightly packed basil (measure while pressing it down

Method:

Drain, rinse, and pat tofu dry. Place a few paper towels on a cutting board, put tofu on, and cover with a few more paper towels plus another cutting board on top. Place a 4 cans on top of cutting board to weight the tofu. Press for 30 minutes.

Stand tofu on its side, cut in half. Then cut lengthwise into four slices, and cut widthwise into 6 slices, so as to have little cubes. Place in a small casserole dish, pour marinade over top, gently stir. Cover, marinate at least two hours.

When ready to cook tofu, wipe peanut oil with a paper towel onto a nonstick fry pan on medium heat, add the tofu and marinade, and fry until it reaches your desired done-ness. Note, with so little oil, you will not achieve a crispy shell. Still tasty, and healthy, to boot!

I got some really bad news yesterday and instantly wanted to turn to food to comfort myself, as has been my habit for the last 29 years. Specifically, I wanted a Venti Soy Latte and 1,000 peanut butter cups. I told myself that I should try to stay Fuhrman-friendly since I would only feel worse after careening off this diet. So I figured I could try making my own version of peanut butter cups….

My son devoured these for breakfast this morning! These are my favorite truffle recipe thus far.

I like the taste of all my truffles better when they are refrigerated. These are no exception!

Ingredients:

21 fresh medjool dates

1 cup unsalted, roasted peanuts

1/3 cup raw almonds

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup cocoa powder

Method:

Pulse nuts in food processor until well chopped. Add dates, cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Process until a dough ball forms. Scoop with cookie scoop and roll into balls with your hands.

If you want to make these a little more luscious, add chocolate chips after the dough ball forms—just break it up, pour in chocolate chips, pulse a couple times to incorporate and chop the chips a little. YUM! Refrigerate. Not sure how long they keep (certainly at least 3 days) because we devoured them in 2 days!